Chapter 12: The Healing Mage Competes
I finished preparations to leave. The new aircraft model was ready in the yard. In addition, a landing strip was built in that same yard. Until now, takeoffs used techniques to create updrafts of air with magic to lift off the ground. However, as well as being inefficient, there was the problem that the fuselage was damaged on landing.
That’s why I made a runway and installed tires under the fuselage. With this I can create buoyancy when accelerating from the surface and it is useful for landing. The main premise of this design is that, not just anyone, but a first-class magician be able to use it smoothly… In other words, it is designed for mass production.
“Kearu-sama, the new airship looks great. What a beautiful silver glitter.”
“Guren likes it to be warmer than the previous one.”
This time, the only ones who will go together with me to the demon territory apart from Eve would be Setsuna and Guren.
Freya……no, Flare, Kureha and Ellen will stay to take care of the place. From now on Ellen will not be able to go out due to the mountain of work that she has to do to achieve peace with the demonic territory. Since I can’t afford to lose Ellen, I must leave Kureha, the greatest war power we have besides me. Ditto for the charismatic and cohesive Flare. Unlike me, we can’t prepare an alternate for Flare. One way or another we could adapt someone’s appearance and way of speaking with my 【Transformation Heal】, but either way it’s impossible to replicate the intoxication that the speeches and singing of the original can achieve in people. They are not a matter of skill or logic, it can only be said that they are gifts that she has received at birth and it is not possible to reproduce them.
Therefore, I will leave Flare, to maintain the stability of the country.
Therefore, I will only take Setsuna and Guren.
I also thought that it would be necessary to leave Guren to establish the new religion, but Since the advance preparations will take time, this time you can join us on the trip.
“Fufufu, are you okay with that? You won’t be able to beat me with the weight of three people boarding the aircraft.”
Eve was next to the aircraft, we exchanged glances while she made that comment, with a smug attitude.
“Well, somehow I’ll make it. Besides, you also carry some extra weight, right?… Inside your stomach.”
Her belly was so plump that she could be seen despite being covered by her clothes. She wasn’t fat, she just ate too much. Eve successfully ate lots of food from the banquet I prepared, and now she was like this.
“Don’t stare at me so hard! It’s embarrassing for my lover to look at my stomach like this!”
“If you thought that, you should have held back a bit.”
“It’s just, it was so delicious… This food is definitely more delicious than the demon king’s castle.”
“By ‘this’, you mean my food, right?”
Unlike the Dioral castle, the food in this new castle is, for better or worse, simpler and more straightforward. That’s why Ellen would get fed up with the food at this place while I was gone. Originally this was not as rich and cultural a city as the royal capital. Furthermore, with the reconstruction of the distribution network still unfinished, high-quality ingredients could not be obtained. But you can also make a feast out of common ingredients with wisdom and ingenuity. That’s why I prepared several recipes for the chefs.
“It was such a nostalgic flavor.”
She probably gave this opinion because I was feeding her for most of our trip.
“Well, this is a race anyway. You didn’t forget our bet, did you?”
“That should be said by me. I will definitely win and you will do as I tell you. Because, you will not tell me that you are at a disadvantage just because you ate a little more.”
“Of course not.”
Eve had been floating lightly in the air for a while now. For the old Eve, floating in the air was something she only did in a special case, as it was enough to tire her out. But, for the current Eve it was natural to float like this. Her dimension as a living being has changed. She can fly through the sky with the same intuition with which we walk or run.
“I’ll let you give the signal.”
“Are you sure? That would give us the advantage.”
“I don’t mind losing a few seconds. After all, I will win by a big difference.”
That’s good. It’s convenient for me that you underestimate me.
“It is understood. So the start signal will be when this coin hits the ground. Here we go!”
I flipped a coin with my finger. The coin that rose high in the sky began to fall. It spun as it fell into the space between Eve and the airship, and when it hit the ground, it made a steady noise. Just at that moment, I produced wind. That wind pushed the fuselage, the wheels turned and we started moving forward. The wind received by the wings produced a lifting force. The courtyard wall was getting closer and closer.
“What are you doing, master!? At this rate we will crash!”
“Calm down, we’ll be taking off soon.”
“When is soon!? This is really bad! I had a good idea. Before we crash into the wall, I’ll blow it to pieces with explosive magic.”
“If you do, you won’t have meat for three days.”
“Noooo… But, ah, we’re gonna soooo crash!” Guren yelled.
In fact, as she says, the wall is already in front of us. As the fire began to burn brightly at the tip of Guren’s fox tail, the fuselage lifted and we took off. We passed the wall just in time. After that, I created more wind and we moved with stable flight.
“That was unfair and it was too bad for my heart! Do it with a bigger margin!”
“It’s not usual, but Setsuna also agrees with Guren, we hit the wall a bit.”
“How weird. I had calculated that it would be easier to fly the airship… Ah, I see. When I calculated it I only took into account the weight of the fuselage, without the weight of the crew. How dangerous, if there was anyone else on board we would have crashed into the wall.”
I laughed derisively. Apparently, my perspective was narrowed from wanting to finish everything in too much of a hurry. I’ll lengthen the landing strip a little more.
“This must be compensated with meat!”
“…Setsuna wouldn’t say that. But if you feel sorry, she would be happy for you to give me love
like always.”
“This time it was my fault, so I’ll make a special meat for Guren, and give Setsuna more love than usual.”
As soon as I said that, the fox and wolf tails trembled. It seems that the fear from a while ago has already vanished.
“My, you are very confident allowing yourself to speak like that during a competition.”
Suddenly, I saw that Eve was flying next to us. Just by looking at her expression, I could tell that she didn’t mind flying alongside the aircraft. And that we are going at a speed where we would not lose against the flying dragons.
“I wouldn’t say it’s confidence. It’s just that this is the speed limit with which I can fly using wind magic.”
“Wow, then victory is mine. When I get serious I’m faster. Fufufu, then I’ll wait for you at the Demon King’s castle. I’ll ask you to do something cool.”
Saying that, she flapped her black wings widely. Then, she overwhelmingly accelerated. What tremendous acceleration. She had the speed of an average wind dragon, the race of dragons that control the wind that are the fastest among the flying dragons. Still, it didn’t seem like she was overexerting herself. The current Eve should reach the demon territory quickly with that speed.
…At that speed, I won’t be able to catch up with it by flying with only wind. Anyway, her weight is too different from ours. As she propels herself with magical energy, the difference in weight can be decisive.
“Master, at this rate we will lose!”
“I don’t mind losing, but I don’t want Kearu-sama to lose.”
Guren and Setsuna started to get worried, at which I laughed wryly.
“Okay. I don’t plan on losing either. When you fly only with the wind, this speed is the limit that can be reached. Flying in the wind is simple and stable. But, there is a better way to do it if you want more speed. And here I have a mechanism for that.”
There are two main differences between the shape of the airship made from dragon materials and the actual airship made from mithril. The first is the tires for takeoff and landing. The other is a tube attached to the wings. That’s the new mechanism I added to get more speed. I momentarily stopped the wind magic. I then invoked the new magic, which is an amalgamation of wind and fire, at the entrance of the tube. Then, there was an explosive acceleration.
“Wow, how fast!”
“Nn, we’re catching up with Eve.”
“This is the aircraft’s new propulsion system.”
Just generating wind the flight was quite inefficient. In the new model, I blow a quantity of air into the cylinder with wind magic, then super compress it, burn it with flame magic, and this expels gas at super high temperature and high pressure to get unprecedented speed.
…This is something that I couldn’t do with dragon material. It does not have enough strength and heat resistance. If it wasn’t mithril, it couldn’t withstand this immense temperature. With this mechanism I don’t have to worry about weight gain. I caught up with Eve in the blink of an eye, and passed her.
“I’ll get ahead of myself!”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Eve turned around, made a rueful face, and desperately tried to speed up, but she couldn’t catch up with us.
“Now it will be an easy win.”
“Unbelievable, Kearu-sama.”
“About. But you two don’t relax. At this speed the fuselage can hardly support it. It would be a big problem to force it just a bit more.”
“I’ll ask just in case. What would happen if you pushed it a little harder?”
“It will shatter and we will fall.”
“Why is it so fragile!?”
To reduce, even a little, the weight. As it is a mass production oriented airframe, it did not need a design that could withstand the force of Freya or myself, of course increasing the weight is detrimental.
…Well, if it were to break…I’ll think about it when the time comes. Unlike dragon material, mithril can be disassembled and repaired as much as you like with alchemy magic. Ok, I have to concentrate. I must have a perfect victory and see Eve’s teary eyes.
***
Using fire and wind magic together was harder than I thought, and I had no choice but to slow down midway. Thanks to that I passed Eve, but it seems that she overdid trying to catch up with us, so she ended up exhausted, which further slowed her down. The result was an absolute victory. When we arrived at the Demon King’s castle, we were greeted by familiar faces. After we were excitedly waving and chatting, Eve finally arrived after thirty minutes. Her whole body was sweating and her stomach, which she had swollen from overeating, was sunken.
“Agh, agh, did you say it would take you three days to get to the Demon King’s castle? Liar!”
“I said it was a new model, right? I didn’t think it would work so well either.”
I designed it almost entirely in my head, but to think that it would work so well…
“…Well, um, let’s enter the castle. The room used by Kearu is as is. Also, there are many people who say they want to see you.”
With a forced smile Eve pulled me up and tried to carry me to the castle.
…Obviously trying to escape our bet. But I’m not kind enough to let it go. I whispered in Eve’s ear what she wanted from our bet, and she turned completely red and turned away with teary eyes.
“Kearu pervert! You are a pervert!”
“I will not deny it. But it sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not a pervert who thinks those things would be fun!”
What I asked for is something that can only be enjoyed in the Demon King’s castle, and only if it’s with the Demon King. Normally I could forgive her, but this is the winner’s privilege, so I won’t let her refuse. As expected, Eve looks very cute with her teary eyes.
“How malicious you are.”
“Hahaha, rather, let’s do it right away.”
Shame does not exist in my dictionary. It would be more impolite to pay her more attention.
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